Rebel Heart (album)
|Last album = '' '' |This album = '' '' |Next album = |Artist = Madonna }} DJ Dahi, Blood Diamonds, Billboard, Jason Evigan, Shelco Garcia & Teenwolf, Kanye West, Mike Dean, Charlie Heat, Toby Gad, AFSHeeN, Josh Cumbee, Salem Al Fakir, Magnus Lidehäll, Vincent Pontare, Astma & Rocwell, Carl Falk Rebel Heart is the thirteenth studio album by American singer Madonna, and was released on March 6, 2015 by Interscope Records. Following the completion of the MDNA era, Madonna worked on the album throughout 2014, co-writing and co-producing it with various musicians, including Diplo, Avicii, and Kanye West. She teased by uploading pictures of her recording sessions on her Instagram account. Working with a number of collaborators on the album, Madonna faced problem in keeping a cohesive sound and direction for Rebel Heart, since her previous efforts have been only with a core group of people. Thematically Rebel Heart represents the two different facades of the singer, listening to one's heart and being a rebel; the themes grew organically during the writing and recording sessions. Musically, it is a pop record which merges an array of genres such as 1990s house, trap and reggae, as well as the usage of acoustic guitars and gospel choir. Some of the songs are autobiographical in nature while others talk about love, personal reflections, as well as introspection of Madonna's career. Rebel Heart features guest appearances from boxerMike Tyson and rappers Nicki Minaj, Nas, and Chance the Rapper. The record had been set for a March 2015 release, with the first single to be released on Valentine's Day. But after a flurry of unexpected album content leaks, the singer released the album for pre-order on iTunes Store on December 20, 2014, with six songs being available for download. Police investigation led to an Israeli man being arrested, who was charged for hacking into Madonna's computer and leaking the songs. The cover art for the deluxe edition of the album became popular, leading to numerous memes being created on Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter. To promote the album, Madonna made several television appearances and performances, including the 57th Annual Grammy Awards and the 2015 Brit Awards. Further promotion for the album would come from the Rebel Heart Tour, which is set to kick off on August 29, 2015. "Living for Love" and "Ghosttown" were released as singles from the album. Rebel Heart received predominantly positive reviews from music critics, who called it her best effort in a decade. They found that unlike her last two studio efforts Hard Candy (2008) and''MDNA'' (2012), the album was progressive in its sound. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and the UK Album Chart. It peaked at number one in various countries across the world, including major music markets such as Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, while reaching the top-ten of the charts in France, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, and Sweden. Background and development Following the release of her twelfth studio album, MDNA (2012), Madonna embarked on The MDNA Tour to promote it.1 The tour courted many controversial subjects such as violence, firearms, human rights, nudity and politics. Lawsuits were created against Madonna from the concerts.2 She was enraged by many of these incidents, which she claimed was "injustice" against human beings.3 These included the imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine and Pussy Riot in Russia, gay rights violations, presidential election in the United States and the assassination attempt on Malala Yousafzai.45 In September 2013, she released secretprojectrevolution, a short film directed by her and Steven Klein, dealing with artistic freedom and human rights. The film also launched a global initiative called Art for Freedom to promote freedom of expression.6 She clarified on L'Uomo Vogue that her next album would be connected with Art for Freedom, saying that she "had" to be committed to the initiative and use her voice as an artist.7 By December 2013, Madonna's manager Guy Oseary commented that the singer was "eager to get started" on her next album.8 However, she had another project in mind, developing the screenplay for the Andrew Sean Greer novel, The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells. Madonna decided to split her time between writing the screenplay and writing songs for the new album.9 In February 2014, Madonna confirmed that she had already begun working on her thirteenth studio album, saying "I'm right now in the process of talking to various co-writers and producers and talking about where I want to go with my music".10 Working with a number of collaborators on the album, Madonna faced problem in keeping a cohesive sound and direction for Rebel Heart, since her previous efforts have been with only a core group of people developing the music. She observed that a lot of the people she enlisted would not stay in one city at a time due to their different projects, resulting in Madonna not finishing her songs. "So, I was just the person standing there with a clipboard in the headlights, going 'Ok!' A little bit like a school teacher," she admitted.11 Category:Albums